Bulgarian eggplant: recipes for the winter

Bulgarian eggplant for the winter is an excellent vegetable snack, which is usually harvested for future use in late summer or early autumn. This popular canned salad is based on the recipe for lecho, a classic Hungarian dish of sweet peppers stewed with tomatoes and onions. Such an appetizer has long been honored by the neighbors of the Hungarians, the Bulgarians, but the latter traditionally prepare this dish, diversifying it with another key component – eggplant.

There are many variations on the theme of eggplant in Bulgarian. The main ingredient is cut into circles, cubes or even baked, then kneaded into a homogeneous mass, then mixed with the rest of the vegetables or layered with tomato-onion sauce, adding greens, chili, garlic. The result of any of these recipes is an excellent winter salad, rich, bright and extremely appetizing.

Rules for cooking eggplant in Bulgarian for the winter

Whatever Bulgarian eggplant recipe the hostess chooses, it is very important to take the ingredients responsibly:

• eggplants should be large, fleshy, with evenly colored, dark, shiny skin, without flaws and rotten places;
• it is better to prefer juicy and ripe tomatoes, perhaps even a little overripe;
• ideally, if the bell pepper is red: in this case, the color of the finished salad will turn out to be the most appetizing.

Eggplants for preparations in Bulgarian should be chosen ripe, fleshy and without visible flaws

It often happens that the flesh of eggplant is very bitter. To eliminate this unpleasant effect, before slicing, it is advisable to immerse whole washed fruits in salted water for half an hour and press down on top with a load, preventing them from floating up. Then the vegetables must be washed in clean water and then proceed in accordance with the recipe.

Bulgarian classic eggplant recipe

The classic Bulgarian tradition of cooking eggplants with vegetables for the winter is thick Manjo salad. Its peculiarity is the simultaneous extinguishing of all ingredients, and an additional advantage is that the jars with the workpiece do not need to be sterilized.

Ingredients:

Preparation:

1. Wash the eggplant well. Cut off the “tails” on both sides, cut into circles about 1,5 cm thick.
2. Peel bell pepper and onion. Cut into small strips.
3. Scald tomatoes with boiling water and peel. Puree with a blender or meat grinder.
4. Grind the peeled carrots, garlic cloves and a slice of hot pepper into a puree.
5. Place all vegetables in a large saucepan. Add salt, sugar, vegetable oil, black pepper, vinegar.
6. Put the pan on the stove and, bringing the salad to a boil, simmer over low heat for 40 minutes.
7. Fill prepared sterile jars with a capacity of 0,5-1 l with a hot snack. Roll up with boiled lids, turn upside down and wrap, leave to cool completely.

Traditional Bulgarian preparation for the winter, Manjo salad with eggplant, tomato and sweet pepper, even gourmets will like it

Ripe, thick-skinned vegetables are best cooked in Bulgarian without peel.

The process of preparing the Bulgarian Manjo salad is illustrated in detail by the video recipe: https://youtu.be/79zwFJk8DEk

Bulgarian eggplant for the winter without sterilization

Fans of preserving vegetable snacks are often frightened by the need to additionally sterilize containers with blanks in a bath of boiling water. Nevertheless, Bulgarian eggplant lecho can be prepared without this time-consuming and difficult procedure.

Ingredients

Preparation:

1. Rinse the eggplant, remove the “tails” and cut into bars 1-1,5 cm thick.
2. Chop the peeled carrots into thin circles (4-5 mm).
3. Remove the seeds from the bell pepper and cut the flesh into medium-sized strips.
4. Peel the onion. Cut into half rings.
5. Divide the tomatoes into 4-6 slices and pass through a meat grinder.
6. Put carrots on the bottom of a cast-iron or pan with thick walls. Pour in the tomato puree and vegetable oil, mix.
7. Bring to a boil and simmer over low heat for about half an hour.
8. Add onion and bell pepper to the pot. Stir gently and wait until the mass boils.
9. Throw in the eggplant pieces. Season with salt, sugar, spices. Stir and after boiling, cook the workpiece for another half hour, without covering with a lid.
10. 5 minutes before turning off the heat, add garlic, passed through a press, bay leaf and vinegar to the pan. Mix.
11. Arrange hot Bulgarian lecho in half-liter jars, pre-sterilized. Seal tightly with lids, soaked in boiling water for a couple of minutes. Turn upside down, carefully wrap with a thick cloth and leave for about a day.

Bulgarian lecho for the winter is prepared with eggplant and does not require additional sterilization

Bulgarian eggplant with herbs and garlic for the winter

Among the best Bulgarian eggplant recipes for the winter are multi-layer canned food, in which the main ingredient, cut into mouth-watering circles, alternates with thick “minced meat” from fried onions, meaty tomatoes, spicy garlic puree and finely chopped fresh herbs.

Ingredients:

Preparation:

1. Wash the eggplant thoroughly, cut off the ends. Cut into thick washers (1.-2 cm).
2. Place the mugs for 5 minutes in a concentrated solution of table salt (120 g per 1 liter of water).
3. Drain in a colander, wait until excess water drains, and fry in hot vegetable oil on both sides until golden brown.
4. Chop the peeled onion into thin slices. Fry evenly until golden brown.
5. Remove the stalks from the tomatoes, cut into slices for convenience and puree with a meat grinder. Heat the resulting mass to a boil on the stove and rub through a sieve (you can use a blender), then boil it down to half the volume.
6. Peel and crush the garlic with a press.
7. Wash the greens and finely chop.
8. Mix onion, garlic and greens with tomato mass. Season with salt, pepper, stir and heat until boiling.
9. Warm up cleanly washed dry half-liter jars a little. Put a small layer of tomato-onion mass on the bottom, then circles of fried eggplant. Repeat layers until jar is full (top layer should be tomato).
10. Cover jars with boiled tin lids. Set in a wide container with warm water and, bringing it to a boil, sterilize for 50 minutes, then roll up.

Bulgarian eggplant can also be cooked in the form of pucks, layered with tomato sauce with herbs, onions and garlic

Bulgarian spicy eggplant with hot pepper

Bulgarian spicy eggplant with chili can be prepared without frying, but by baking vegetables in the oven. In this case, the dish will be more useful, and oil consumption will be less.

Ingredients:

Preparation:

1. Washed eggplants, in which both “tails” are removed, cut into thick circles (2 cm each).
2. Prepare a salt solution, as in the previous recipe. Place eggplant washers in it for 20-30 minutes. Then squeeze lightly, put in a deep bowl, pour in 50 g of vegetable oil and mix.
3. Spread in a single layer on a non-stick baking sheet and bake in the oven until golden (about 7 minutes per side).
4. In the remaining vegetable oil, fry the onion for about 20 minutes, making sure that it does not burn.
5. Using a blender, prepare a puree of tomatoes, garlic cloves and a chili pod, peeled from seeds. Add salt, sugar, ground pepper. Boil the sauce for half an hour, then add the fried onion and finely chopped fresh herbs to it. To stir thoroughly.
6. In pre-sterilized 0,5-liter jars, lay out layers of tomato sauce and eggplant circles, making sure that the top layer is the sauce.
7. Line a baking sheet with paper towels. Put jars of eggplant in Bulgarian on it, cover them with lids. Place in a cold oven, pouring a small amount of water into the bottom of the baking sheet. Set the temperature to 100-110 ° C and sterilize canned food for an hour.
8. Seal jars tightly, turn over, wrap and let cool.

Eggplant circles for canning for the winter according to the Bulgarian recipe can not be fried first, but baked in the oven

Advice! If the oven is equipped with a grill, you should use it at the stage of roasting eggplants in Bulgarian, then they will be ready faster.

Bulgarian eggplant lute for the winter

Lutenitsa is a thick, spicy, spicy sauce for the winter in Bulgarian style from baked eggplant “without skin” and sweet peppers, boiled in thick tomato puree with chili and garlic.

Ingredients:

Preparation:

1. Remove the stalks from the washed eggplants. Cut the vegetables lengthwise into 2 halves and bake in the oven for half an hour.
2. Gently remove the skin from the cooled fruits, and grind the pulp into a puree using a blender.
3. Spread the washed bell pepper whole on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Then put the fruits in a bowl, tighten with cling film and leave for 10 minutes. After that, remove the upper skin from them and remove the seeds, and puree the pulp with a blender.
4. Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water for a couple of minutes, then peel and grind until smooth. Pour the tomato puree into a stainless steel container, put on fire and, allowing it to boil, boil for about half an hour.
5. Grind peeled garlic cloves and chili pods without stalks and seeds in a blender bowl.
6. Add eggplant and bell pepper puree to the pan with tomato. Let the mass boil. Pour salt, sugar, ground chili with garlic and boil for another 10 minutes.
7. Turn off the heat and pour the vinegar into the sauce. Mix.
8. Arrange the workpiece in clean, dry 0,5-liter jars. Cover them with lids and sterilize in a water bath for 15 minutes. Roll up and leave to cool completely.

Burning thick lutenitsa sauce will surely delight lovers of spicy dishes

Storage Rules

It is recommended to store canned Bulgarian eggplants that have been sterilized in a dark place, possibly at room temperature. The period during which they should be used is 1-2 years. Canned vegetable salads, closed without sterilization, are stored for no more than a year.

Conclusion

Bulgarian eggplant for the winter can be prepared in different ways: in the form of lecho, classic Manjo salad, spicy lutein sauce, appetizers from whole circles in tomato and vegetable puree. Any of these canned dishes will be an excellent addition to the second or side dish, diversifying the festive and everyday menu. Definitely, it is worth working a little at the height of the vegetable season so that Bulgarian eggplant, served at the dinner table in winter, will please the whole family.